


Deprived

by LittleSammy



Series: Restless [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-26
Updated: 2012-04-26
Packaged: 2017-11-04 08:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/391916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSammy/pseuds/LittleSammy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony, Ziva, and a severe lack of sleep...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deprived

**Author's Note:**

> Set directly after 8x11 "Ships in the Night", and yes, very mild spoilers for that episode.

Seeing Tony slump against the wall of the elevator as soon as the doors closed behind them drew a sympathetic sigh out of Ziva. He had done a pretty good job on this particular case, but the constant need for attention and by now more than fifty hours of being awake and on his feet had obviously taken their toll. And now that they had been sent home and being awake was no longer immediately required, he looked like he was about ready to forget about driving home and would rather just slide down the elevator wall, roll up on the floor and fall asleep right where he stood. 

To her surprise Ziva found that, as annoyed as she had been with him and his antics over these past two days, there was a stab of concern rising in her now because he really didn't look like he would make it home in one piece. She watched Tony silently on their ride down to the parking deck, wondering how to address this.

"You or me?" McGee asked just then, and she turned her head to look at him. He was busy staring at Tony, too, taking in the way the older man leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and his head falling back, just this side of a snore. Obviously she wasn't the only one who doubted the Senior Field Agent's ability to drive safely in this state.

"Me," she said, hooking her arm under Tony's to get him moving once the elevator stopped on the parking lot level. "I have more attention left than you."

"Oh, thank god." McGee groaned and rubbed his bleary eyes, then pushed himself into motion again and dragged his tired feet towards his car. Ziva gave his back a weak smile as she watched him stumble off. Then she tugged at Tony's arm again and steered him towards her own car while he mumbled sleepy thanks close to her ear. 

She turned her head to glance at his tired face, and for a moment she had to suppress the almost overwhelming urge to mess up his already unruly hair a bit more. It sat strangely with the annoyance she had felt towards him for the better part of the day -- an annoyance that was still there, bubbling just below the surface, ready to come up easily if Tony should decide that there was room for one more foot in his mouth. She had only a vague idea why he had managed to get under her skin like this, but the reasonable part of her mind insisted, like it usually did, that these were thoughts better left unexplored. 

She took a deep breath and tried to get Tony to move, just as he leaned into her a little more and then even tried to snuggle up to her. If he weren't so completely out of it, maybe she would have made something out of it. As it was, she merely sighed and dragged him along, trying to remember where she had parked her car.

*** *** ***

He kept mumbling unintelligible things during the whole ride, and his head lolled back and forth against the headrest. Every now and then Ziva snuck a glance at him to make sure he was buckled up and the seat belt wasn't cutting off anything vital and that he was still breathing alright and not drooling all over her seats.

If she'd been just a little more awake herself, she might have wondered why she was making up excuses to look at him.

*** *** ***

By the time they reached his apartment, he had almost dozed off completely, and getting him out of the car turned into a good deal of work. His arm was heavy around her shoulders while she locked her car and then ushered him into the building. His eyes stayed closed for most of the time, he only blinked wearily when she reminded him that there were steps coming up.

"Thanks," he mumbled again, and Ziva sighed once more. By now, she was too tired to feel annoyed, and so she just pressed her palm into his back in a gesture that was a mixture of pushing him along and rubbing slow circles against his spine.

*** *** ***

His arm tightened around her reflexively while she dug around in his pockets for his keys, and Ziva didn't even realize how he leaned into her until it was too late. His weight made her stumble back against the wall, and he turned his face into her neck, breathing in deeply.

"You smell good," he murmured. His lips brushed against her skin while he spoke, and she couldn't help the sudden shiver. Goose bumps ran down her back, but Tony, vaguely happy and quite oblivious to the reaction he drew from her, just pressed his nose deeper into her neck and hair. A slow frown formed on his face while he tried to ponder the sudden mystery and failed to come up with a satisfying solution. "You haven't showered in three days. How come you still smell so good?"

Ziva wasn't sure why exactly her pulse suddenly started pounding in her ears. Her breathing picked up speed, and she blinked, concentrating very hard on the curve of his shoulder while she tried to ignore how he pressed into her and his hand slipped to the small of her back. And she wanted to swear at him for asking that, because now she couldn't help but breathe in his scent, too, couldn't help but feel it on her tongue, less sweet than her own, more spicy and musky instead, but good, really good. And maybe it was just the lack of sleep getting to her now, but she suddenly had to close her eyes and fight the urge to rise on her toes and taste him. She held her breath and waited for what he would do next, her thoughts a nervous mess because she wasn't really sure what she _wanted_ him to do.

Then, just as suddenly as he had pressed into her, he pulled away from her again. "Sorry," he murmured, confused and sleepy and distracted, and she opened her eyes and found him staring at her curiously, still closer than he usually was, but giving her a bit more room now. His eyes were fixed on her face, and there was an almost dreamy expression in them that left her tempted to try leaning back into him, just to see how he would react. Instead, she raised a hand to grab his lapels and steady him while she opened his apartment door.

"Don't be mad," he said while his own hand went to her back again, and she turned her head and found him watching her curiously, as if he tried to wrap his brain around what had just happened between them and failed spectacularly at the task.

He noticed her stern look and shrugged. Then he tried to wriggle out of his coat without letting go of her, which proved to be a minor challenge until Ziva sighed and pulled her arm out from under his while she got him out of his coat and jacket.

"Sometimes," she said while she loosened his tie, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "I wonder how you got to be so old without having a clue."

"Hey, I'm good at Clue," he protested, his words sluggish, but clearly amused. "If I weren't, I'd suggest Agent David, in my bedroom, without panties, now."

"You wouldn't survive that suggestion," she replied with a yawn. And yes, she knew that she should be exasperated at this, but to her own surprise she found that she wasn't. She couldn't be really annoyed right now, because his hand came up to her neck just then, resting on the curve of her shoulder while his fingertips brushed against the base of her neck.

"See? That's why I don't," he stated solemnly. And now he was suddenly sniffing her again without noticing it, with his eyes half-closed and lost in the sensation, and this time he was a lot closer and down to his shirt, and this was getting dangerously interesting.

"Stop it," Ziva pressed out, and she tried to make it a harsh order to snap him out of it. But her voice didn't cooperate, and the words came out strangely rough and distracted. She closed her eyes to get herself back under control, but this turned out to be a bad idea because now the way his fingertips moved against her skin felt much more intense all of a sudden and so incredibly intimate that her breath hitched in her throat.

His hand never slowed down, didn't even hesitate for a heartbeat, and she swallowed hard at the sensation of his fingertips pressing into the soft skin at the base of her neck.

"What?" he asked suddenly, sounding surprised, and Ziva blinked. He watched her with an expression that was mostly sleepy with a hint of curiosity, and right now he really looked like he had no idea what he was doing to her. When she met his gaze, a slow smile began to spread on his face, and the sudden, unfamiliar affection he showed her tugged hard at Ziva's insides and sent a mad tingling across her skin, spreading from his touch like wildfire. And then his gaze dropped to her neck and he noticed how his hand was buried in her hair, caressing her slowly. 

"Oh," he said, intrigued. "That."

He didn't stop, though. His fingertips kept moving softly against her skin, and maybe it was the lack of sleep or a lack of common sense or the general lack of any noteworthy physical contact lately, but suddenly Ziva found herself not moving away, but into his touch instead, and she surprised herself by grabbing his shirt to pull him closer.

He didn't flinch, and that made it ten times worse. He just kissed her back as if that was the most natural thing to do. As if they had already done this a hundred times and as if it wasn't something to freak out about and something dangerous and so much out of the norm because she was suddenly -- _oh god, yes, she really was_ \--pressed up against her _partner_ , and he had his hand under her sweater, and his mouth was doing delicious things to her neck now that turned her on as if he had flipped a switch, things that left her all hot and bothered and hungry for more. And oh, he was good at what he did.

"Tony," she gasped, shocked, distracted, and his lips slid down her neck, sucking her skin and drawing a moan from her.

"Yes," he pressed out, reaching for her belt, and she didn't stop him, couldn't even think about stopping him. "Please."

He kissed her again, his lips slow and lazy and just a little sleepy, but his body was far from tired now, and his hands knew their way around her, far better than they should. Her hands tightened on his shoulder, fingers digging into his flesh, and Tony's luscious mouth suddenly smiled against hers.

*** *** ***

She wasn't sure how he got them into the bedroom eventually because his whole attention seemed to be focused so tightly on what he was doing to her. On her skin, and the way her body arched into his when he touched her just the right way. And god, yes, he certainly knew how to touch her just right. How to draw moans from her, and how to make her writhe underneath him once he had her naked, and how to distract her long enough so she could throw the last of her silly inhibitions overboard and give in to the temptation of tasting him and feeling him and having him lick her skin in return.

He should have felt heavy, but he didn't, not once, and soon she was so caught up in feeling his breath in her face and his mouth on her skin and his big, warm body on top of her and all around her that she eventually just gasped and wrapped her arms around him and a little while later her legs, too, and that took his own breath away and made him shudder so hard that it almost woke them from the spell that had them entranced.

"You--" he pressed out, and she ran her hand through his hair and pulled him back down onto her, not willing to let him freak out now. And so the moment to break apart and flee came and went, because in the end the thrill of the fresh sensations was too much for them and too heady a thing to resist.

*** *** ***

She woke with a start, in his bed -- spent, drained, sweaty and no longer smelling quite as good. But Tony was still so very warm and heavy against her side. His arm lay across her waist, holding her close, and his fingers touched the soft skin of her hip, not quite caressing her, just twitching every now and then in an almost-stroke. It felt so eerily familiar, and yet it wasn't familiar at all, and Ziva tried to breathe calmly and get a grip. Failed.

She was so wide awake suddenly while she listened to his breathing. To the floorboards creaking. To the soft rustle of the covers whenever Tony moved against her. It was a small wonder that she could hear any of these sounds over the thunder that was her own heartbeat.

She tried to bring some semblance of order to her madly whirling thoughts, but it didn't work because all she could think right now was that they shouldn't have done this. Not like this, not when they had both been sleep-deprived out of their minds and not thinking clearly -- or at all. 

Ziva felt the urge to bite her nails and fought it, but the more she tried to relax and accept the situation that couldn't be helped now anyway, the more it made her itch and want to run. And she really, _really_ needed to get out of here and get some distance between them, and then, once she had gotten some real sleep, not just a nap, she could start thinking a bit more clearly. Maybe she'd wake up with an idea about how to deal with this. And maybe, just maybe... maybe Tony would even wake up without remembering any of this. 

She wasn't sure if lack of sleep worked in any way like alcohol or drug intoxication. And she wasn't sure yet if that possibility was a scary or a comforting one. She wasn't sure about any of this, except for the fact that she really needed to get out of here, right now, or she would start to scream any minute.

His arm tightened imperceptibly around her waist just when she seriously contemplated slipping out of his bed, and Ziva turned her head and found his eyes on her. She blinked, meeting his gaze, and she certainly hadn't planned on it, but something inside her softened anyway when she noticed the deep lines around his red-rimmed eyes and the way his lids dropped while he was fighting the lure of sleep. He looked so vulnerable all of a sudden that she couldn't help the reflex to reach out and press her palm to his cheek. His eyelids fluttered when he felt the touch, and the shadow of a smile tugged at her lips while her thumb brushed against his temple, and Tony hummed appreciatively and moved into her touch.

"Sleep," she told him, quietly, so he would succumb to the suggestion, but he shook his head minutely and forced his eyes open again.

"Can't," he muttered, and his fingertips traced the line of her hip. "You'll be gone."

The simple words sent a hot rush of embarrassment through her, and she desperately wanted to protest the insinuation. Instead, she bit her lip and asked herself if by now she was really so screwed up that, just one minute ago, he would have been right.

She blinked, thinking, rethinking and finally deciding, and once her mind was settled more firmly, she found herself turning in his arms and scooting close enough to touch him from chin to toes. He made a soft, content sound while his arm came up around her back and pressed her closer to his chest, and more of the tempting warmth he had sparked earlier spread in Ziva's belly now. She found herself staring at his face, the sleepy eyes, the lush mouth with the delicious curve of lips, and it left her intrigued and distracted and mildly aroused, again.

Eventually she leaned into him and let her lips brush against his, as softly as she could. Her palm curved against his cheek, and then she slid her hand to the back of his head, keeping him close to her. And while Ziva's nervous flutter of a pulse slowed down until it almost matched his, Tony's mouth softened under this shadow of a kiss and he gradually relaxed into her touch.

"I won't," she murmured, holding him, and Tony replied something unintelligible against her lips just before his mouth went completely slack and he gave in to exhaustion after all.

She waited a few more heartbeats until he was truly asleep before she pulled back -- not to get away this time. Just enough to break the kiss, but not enough to lose the sensation of his warm breath on her face.

"I'll be here," she said softly, her forehead resting against his, her arm around his shoulder. 

She ran her fingertips through his hair, stroking him softly, and she kept doing it until sleep claimed her, too.


End file.
